No job before 14!
Maybe you have a little job on the weekend? Me, as a child, I worked two hours a week at the florist in my neighborhood. However, the Quebec government has just announced new rules that will limit child labor. I explain this decision to you.
Fourteen years old. This is the minimum working age set by the government. This means that from now on, if the bill is passed, children under 14 will no longer be able to work.
According to the Minister of Labor Jean Boulet, the place of a child is in school or in extracurricular activities. “First and foremost, his first job is to be a student,” he said.
However, this new bill includes some exceptions.
Keeping the neighbour’s baby is yes
The minister clarified the cases where children under 14 can work. There is babysitting, homework help, summer camps and day camps. YouTubers, artistic practices and small family businesses will also escape the future law.
However, exception does not mean total freedom. In any case, young people aged 16 and under will not be able to work more than 17 hours per week during the school year.
Why regulate child labour?
In recent years, the number of work accidents among children has exploded. According to a study, it increased by 540% among 14-year-olds and under between 2017 and 2019. For Minister Jean Boulet, rules are absolutely necessary to protect children.
Fight against school dropout
The government also wants to fight against school dropouts. A study carried out by the Quebec Institute of Statistics shows that the more hours a young person works in a week, the higher the risk of dropping out. The government therefore hopes to keep young people on the school benches rather than see them heading too early towards the labor market.
The Minister of Labor added that the child needs diversity in his activities to develop, such as sport, cinema, theatre… The Minister forgot a very important extracurricular activity: reading the articles of the As de l’info !
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Parents separate less than before
PHOTO SARAH MONGEAU-BIRKETT, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Among parents who had children from 2010, the separation rate fell to 13%.
When parents separate, it is a very difficult event, for them as well as for their children. But good news, in recent years, the separation of parents has decreased! We explain this to you.
There are researchers who have counted several figures on the separation of parents. These researchers work for the Ministère de la Famille, of the Government of Quebec.
They found that among parents who had children between 1990 and 2009, there were 21% separations. This means that in 1 out of 5 families, the parents have left each other.
The good news is that, among parents who had children since 2010, the separation rate fell to 13%. It is therefore approximately 1 family in 10 who has experienced a break-up.
The graph below can help you visualize these numbers.
INFOGRAPHIC THE PRESS
Separation rate after five years
And the impact of the pandemic in all this?
The Ministère de la Famille indicates that the results come from data from 2017. This means that they do not take into account a rather major event that occurred from 2020… Yes, the pandemic!
However, we know that the pandemic, with confinements and job losses, in particular, has caused a lot of stress and conflict for many couples.
On the other hand, many parents said they were spending more quality time with family during the pandemic, explained a spokesperson for the Ministry, Esther Chouinard.
In short, the pandemic could have contributed to the separations, as it could have helped to avoid them! We just don’t know at the moment, because we don’t have a study to verify it yet.
Esther Chouinard concludes that researchers will have to do other analyzes to find out the impact of COVID-19 on parental separations.
Other interesting facts about parents born between the 1960s and 1990s:
— Married parents separate less than unmarried parents.
— Parents who have studied longer separate less, whereas before, it was the opposite.
According to an article by Gabriel Béland, The Press
Are your parents separating?
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Text: 514-600-1002
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